This invention pertains to cutting flexible foam shell products from a retaining sheet. It pertains particularly to a method and apparatus for rapidly die cutting flexible formed products made from an ethylene-containing foam material and covered by a facing sheet sealed onto the formed foam product, then removing the formed product from the foam retaining sheet.
Die cutting or punching relatively rigid sheet materials such as metals, paper or plastics from a surrounding sheet is generally well known, such as die punching flat shaped pieces from metal sheets or from relatively stiff plastic sheets or strips. However, rapidly die cutting and punching out formed parts or products from flexible plastic materials such as ethylene-containing foams which are easily extrudable is much more difficult to accomplish, because the material elongates easily particularly when the material being cut has a non-planar shape. Such difficulties with rapidly die cutting and punching out non-planar shapes from flexible easily extrudable foam materials have been unexpectedly overcome by the method and apparatus of the present invention.